Many businesses have mastered the art of lead generation and attracting new clients from all corners of the internet. However, in this new day and age, the problem has arisen of how to retain customers you’ve already attracted.
Customers today want their time and worth respected and their payments to be appreciated and valued. Here are eight customer retention strategies to help your business maintain your customers and make them feel worthwhile.
- Make sure customers feel appreciated and valued at all times
- Provide education and tokens of gratitude with consistent frequency
- Engage customers through social media and a high-quality newsletter
Educate Your Customers
Customer education is one the primary ways to retain customers who use your products or service. Giving your customers a guide on how to best interact with your company down the road can lead to improved relationships and keep customers happier for longer.
Educating will also remove feelings of apprehension or buyer’s remorse because you customers will more thoroughly understand what they’re paying for and how to keep it operating for years to come.
Always Prioritize Customer Service
Almost every business today has a customer service team, but few preach mastery of this fundamental business tenet. Your team should quickly and efficiently resolve customer complaints, look into inquiries from customers, and discuss matters in a calm and appreciative manner.
Treating your customers as the most valued part of your business will do wonders to retain customers who are on the fence about your company. Oftentimes, it’s not what you sell, but how you sell it and how your employees treat your buyers.
Establish A Feedback Channel
Many customers have only small complaints, or suggestions which would improve a facet of your company. Many don’t get the chance to convey these, however, because there’s no available feedback channel in place.
Providing your customers with a tool which allows them to address weak points of your processes will improve your company little by little, and listening to your customers’ feedback is a great way to add value and make them feel appreciated and like a valued member of your team.
Provide Customers With Tokens Of Appreciation
Humans love a good surprise. Surprises provide us with dopamine and enhance our happiness and positive outlook, improving our mood and our day. Your company should feed into this positivity loop by giving your customers a well thought out and unexpected token of gratitude on a consistent basis.
This can be in the form of a gift whenever they purchase a new product, a rewards program to save them money, or frequent small discounts and promotional codes for their next trip to the store.
Make Sure Your Customers Share Your Values
Many consumers today don’t have relationships with the brands they use and consume every day, but many who do say that shared values were the reason they use their particular brands in the first place. This is a phenomenon called implicit egotism, which means people prefer to use products and services which line up with their own values and worldview.
If your brand can forward positive and concrete messages, you’ll retain customers who enjoy those messages and wish to share them with others. It’s a simple but crucial step to customer retention.
Create A Communication Calendar
Your company should always be proactive in reaching out to customers who use your products or service. Customers tend to lose touch with a company which they haven’t used in a while, but if you’re actively ensuring to contact them and ask questions, you’ll put your brand back in their mind and gain more customers and their loyalty in the process. To do this, you can use a communication calendar, which is a chart which keeps track of customer communication and outreach efforts.
Have A Firm Social Media Strategy
Social media has proliferated in the last few years. These platforms are not only a great way to generate leads and attract customers to your business, they’re also a great method to retain customers and relate with them on a personal level.
Consumers love the ease of access and connection social media provides them, so having a firm and effective plan of action on platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram is a great strategy to interact and engage with past and present customers alike.
Improve Visibility Of Your Company Newsletter
Finally, one of the simplest yet most effective ways to retain customers is to make sure you have a company newsletter which is seen by those who shop with your company.
This method is cost effective and ongoing, a set routine which reaches customers and clues them in to what’s happening in your company in any given month. You can also utilize e-mail automation to remind customers of your brand every time they open their inbox.
Final Thought
Attracting customers seem to be getting easier as the years go by, but retaining those customers is another issue altogether. Make sure you company has the best customer service in the field, establishes a feedback loop, and reaches out to inactive customers frequently to increase loyalty and retention for years down the road.